New York Trip - Day 4
Sorry, this is a long one!.
Friday we decided to split up. MIL would take Miguel and I would go explore on my own. First we had breakfast at the hotel (Robbery! Never again! Delicious breakfast quesadilla, but still!) and made a quick trip together to the garment district to visit MOOD. (That's the fabric store that they use on project Runway, for those who don't watch TV.) Mood is on floors 2-4 of an office building - The entrance is on the third floor. On the way in, I had a personal treat - the elevator was a manual! The operator looked like Father Time, he was so old.
We went because MIL wanted to buy some fabric from there (just to say that she had, I think), and I wanted to get bozini one of their reusable tote bags to show off to her friends :). Miguel decided that he wanted to buy some fabric to wrap a present for Santa Claus. He was helped by a sweet young lady named Sara who walked up and down the aisles looking for exactly what he wanted. She treated him like any other customer (perhaps a little more enthusiastically) and he was thrilled. Here she is cutting MIL's fabric:
So after that, we split up. MIL and Miguel went back to the hotel via Toys 'reversed R' Us, where they picked up a toy. Miguel sat and played in the room while she rested. I hopped aboard one of the many tour buses that go around the city. There's two main ones: City Sights and Gray Line. I bought a two-day ticket from the City Sights guy and jumped on. (I would later discover that I had chosen ... unwisely. But I get ahead of myself.)
I toured around the downtown area, taking a loop from the garment district, past the Empire State Building, through SoHo, down to the battery, then back up 3rd avenue past the UN building and back to Times Square. Along the way, we saw the ESB, Macy's, the Waldorf Astoria, the obligatory Flatiron Building, Wall Street, Ground zero, Rockefeller Center (where they were decorating the tree), Saks, and the Rainbow Room. I took another brazilian photos, and you can see them on the album site between pages 16 and 19. Not gonna post em all here.
Once I got back I was hungry, so I stopped in for a slice at Ray's Famous. For my money, this is the best pizza in New York. Then I headed back to the room to warm up. Did I mention I was on top of a double decker bus? on an island? In 32 degree weather? What i don't undergo to get pictures for you people. :) A mushroom and sausage slice and a cup of hot chocolate did the trick, though, and I made it without getting frostbitten.
That night Miguel and MIL were going to see The Lion King and I had tickets for the significantly more adult-themed Spring Awakening. But we had plenty of time, so I figured it was a good time to take Miguel to the Empire State Building. (Yes, of course they have a website.)
A bit of back story. One of Miguel's favorite movies is James and the Giant Peach. James yearns to get to the big city, and flies a giant peach to New York, ending up with the peach impaled atop the ESB. Since seeing this, Miguel has been obsessed with New York and the ESB in particular. So this trip has been something of a dream-come-true for him. The trip to the ESB has been in his conversation and on his mind since we arrived. This, my friends, is the money shot.
We bundled up and hopped the bus to the ESB. I thought I had timed our trip to get us up there around sunset. I had not counted on literally two hours of lines and security checkpoints more thorough than the airport's. We were X-rayed, had our belongings searched, were given the stink-eye, etc. Apparently, we weren't terrorists (whew!), so we got through the line. Getting to the top of the ESB involves two elevator rides - the first takes you to the 80th floor, then it's a walk to the other elevator that takes you to 86 and the observation deck. For elevators built in 1930, they were more crowded than I was comfy with.
Finally we make it. It's after sunset, still in the gloaming - that lovely time the French call crépuscule. This is it. We open the door to the observation deck and are immediately stabbed with a thousand icy knives. Miguel's first words: "Let's go back down!"
We stayed a while and saw the city:
After all that, we went down, down, down the rabbit-hole back to New York City. Stopping off at Papaya King for a dog and drink apiece, we headed for the bus back. This was not to be, though - we were running short on time, so I hailed a cab back to catch our shows. Spring Awakening was great, really moving - if you haven't seen it, do so fast - they're closing in NYC and not gonna tour in the South. I have the soundtrack too, if you want to give it a listen.
After such an eventful day, we hit the sack. The next day, MIL would be in meetings, so it would just be me and the boy.
Friday we decided to split up. MIL would take Miguel and I would go explore on my own. First we had breakfast at the hotel (Robbery! Never again! Delicious breakfast quesadilla, but still!) and made a quick trip together to the garment district to visit MOOD. (That's the fabric store that they use on project Runway, for those who don't watch TV.) Mood is on floors 2-4 of an office building - The entrance is on the third floor. On the way in, I had a personal treat - the elevator was a manual! The operator looked like Father Time, he was so old.
We went because MIL wanted to buy some fabric from there (just to say that she had, I think), and I wanted to get bozini one of their reusable tote bags to show off to her friends :). Miguel decided that he wanted to buy some fabric to wrap a present for Santa Claus. He was helped by a sweet young lady named Sara who walked up and down the aisles looking for exactly what he wanted. She treated him like any other customer (perhaps a little more enthusiastically) and he was thrilled. Here she is cutting MIL's fabric:
So after that, we split up. MIL and Miguel went back to the hotel via Toys 'reversed R' Us, where they picked up a toy. Miguel sat and played in the room while she rested. I hopped aboard one of the many tour buses that go around the city. There's two main ones: City Sights and Gray Line. I bought a two-day ticket from the City Sights guy and jumped on. (I would later discover that I had chosen ... unwisely. But I get ahead of myself.)
I toured around the downtown area, taking a loop from the garment district, past the Empire State Building, through SoHo, down to the battery, then back up 3rd avenue past the UN building and back to Times Square. Along the way, we saw the ESB, Macy's, the Waldorf Astoria, the obligatory Flatiron Building, Wall Street, Ground zero, Rockefeller Center (where they were decorating the tree), Saks, and the Rainbow Room. I took another brazilian photos, and you can see them on the album site between pages 16 and 19. Not gonna post em all here.
Once I got back I was hungry, so I stopped in for a slice at Ray's Famous. For my money, this is the best pizza in New York. Then I headed back to the room to warm up. Did I mention I was on top of a double decker bus? on an island? In 32 degree weather? What i don't undergo to get pictures for you people. :) A mushroom and sausage slice and a cup of hot chocolate did the trick, though, and I made it without getting frostbitten.
That night Miguel and MIL were going to see The Lion King and I had tickets for the significantly more adult-themed Spring Awakening. But we had plenty of time, so I figured it was a good time to take Miguel to the Empire State Building. (Yes, of course they have a website.)
A bit of back story. One of Miguel's favorite movies is James and the Giant Peach. James yearns to get to the big city, and flies a giant peach to New York, ending up with the peach impaled atop the ESB. Since seeing this, Miguel has been obsessed with New York and the ESB in particular. So this trip has been something of a dream-come-true for him. The trip to the ESB has been in his conversation and on his mind since we arrived. This, my friends, is the money shot.
We bundled up and hopped the bus to the ESB. I thought I had timed our trip to get us up there around sunset. I had not counted on literally two hours of lines and security checkpoints more thorough than the airport's. We were X-rayed, had our belongings searched, were given the stink-eye, etc. Apparently, we weren't terrorists (whew!), so we got through the line. Getting to the top of the ESB involves two elevator rides - the first takes you to the 80th floor, then it's a walk to the other elevator that takes you to 86 and the observation deck. For elevators built in 1930, they were more crowded than I was comfy with.
Finally we make it. It's after sunset, still in the gloaming - that lovely time the French call crépuscule. This is it. We open the door to the observation deck and are immediately stabbed with a thousand icy knives. Miguel's first words: "Let's go back down!"
We stayed a while and saw the city:
After all that, we went down, down, down the rabbit-hole back to New York City. Stopping off at Papaya King for a dog and drink apiece, we headed for the bus back. This was not to be, though - we were running short on time, so I hailed a cab back to catch our shows. Spring Awakening was great, really moving - if you haven't seen it, do so fast - they're closing in NYC and not gonna tour in the South. I have the soundtrack too, if you want to give it a listen.
After such an eventful day, we hit the sack. The next day, MIL would be in meetings, so it would just be me and the boy.